Following on the ever-increasing popularity of cappuccinos and mocha lattes, consumers are discovering that coffee is just as tasty – and even more refreshing – when served cold.

Iced coffee can be as easy to prepare as iced tea. A variety of options, such as flavoring syrups, cold milk, chocolate and spices, allow you to create personalized coffee concoctions that are just as delicious as those served in your favorite coffee cafe.

Drinks that seem very fancy and complicated, such as iced vanilla mocha, iced rum coffee and iced latte, are easy to make at home.

Here are some tips for refreshing iced coffee drinks:

* Use a machine that produces a high quality coffee or espresso.

* Don’t let your iced coffee drinks be weakened by melting ice. Freeze fresh-brewed coffee into ice cubes and cool your favorite coffee beverage with them rather than with water ice.

* Pour the flavoring syrup into the cup first. To complete the drink, pour in espresso or coffee, then the ice, and top it off with cold milk. This way you know you have the amount of flavoring you wanted to use to get the perfect flavor.

* Be creative. Add a personalized touch to your iced coffee beverages by topping them off with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, nutmeg or cinnamon.

The earliest method of grinding coffee involved placing it in a bowl and using the blunt end of a stick to crush it along the sides and bottom of the bowl. This process was time consuming and messy. It was also a lot of hard work! Others without much patience simply smashed the coffee with a hammer.

These methods were replaced by a mechanical grinder. This became popular because most people already used a mechanical grinder for their spices. The coffee was placed between two disks, one stationary and the other a moving disc. The moving of the disks resulted in the grinding. This process is also known as milling. The milling style coffee grinder is now available in many colors with many features. The price varies on the brand and the features you choose. Generally they are between $50 and $200.

Coffee grinders began being used commercially in the 1800’s. This was helpful for events with large groups of people who wanted coffee, such as Church gatherings or fairs. Coffee grinders were also used commercially in the coffee houses that seemed to be sprouting up on every corner in town. These grinders were adjustable to make the size of the coffee grounds whatever was best for the style of coffee desired. The grinding blades could be brought closer together or further apart by tightening or loosening a screw. The innovation of the wall mount happened around this time as well. While this seems like a small thing, the grinder no longer had to be held in your hand while you ground it, which relieved a lot of the effort required to grind, as well as the potential for making a mess.

More facts about coffee were discovered as more and more coffee was milled. For example, the more friction that took place while grinding, the hotter the coffee bean would get. This changed the flavor of the coffee. And if the coffee grounds were uniform in size, brewing was easier. The finder the grind, the more flavor the coffee had. To make all this happen, grinding coffee by hand was replaced by a machine doing the work with the machine controlled by a person. This allowed the distributor to process the coffee it sold the same way every time.

This machine process led to big coffee plants producing large amounts of coffee. It was the beginning of tin cans of coffee being marketed. Ironically, the machines that were invented to make the coffee all taste the same began to change. This is because now the demand began for coffee that tasted different! People wanted a variety to choose from.

Some people still like to grind their own coffee. They know just how to make it to their liking. Most of us prefer to purchase our coffee already ground. There are many grocery stores that offer the choice of purchasing coffee beans, then grinding them in an electric machine right there in the store. No matter which way you enjoy your coffee, it all seems to start with the grinding process.

If you are buying coffee beans for your home or business but you are not sure what you should be looking for, read on – this short guide will help you to understand the differences between the basic types of coffee, and bust the coffee jargon so you can decide which variety is right for you.

The coffee plant is native to Africa. The two main varieties of coffee plants are Arabica and Robusta. Arabica coffee originated in Ethiopia, while Robusta came from Uganda. Both types are now grown in several other regions throughout the world, and most coffee is labeled clearly to show which country and region it is from.

Generally speaking, Arabica is considered by coffee enthusiasts to be superior to Robusta, with a much stronger and more distinct flavor. Robusta can be bitter and/or milder-tasting – however the taste also varies depending on the region in which the coffee was grown and the processes it was subjected to during growing, shipping, storing and brewing.

Coffee is often described in terms similar to those you might find in wine tasting: the main three categories used are flavor (such as “sweet” or “spicy”), aroma (such as “flowery” or “chocolaty”), body (such as “medium-bodied” or “full-bodied”) and acidity (which refers to how “sharp” or “clean” the coffee tastes, NOT to its pH value).

When you buy coffee beans, you will probably buy them already roasted, however you can “home-roast” them if you choose. Roasting unlocks the flavor from the bean, and the extent to which beans are roasted varies. For example, you can buy “medium roast” beans, “Italian roast” beans (“Italian” refers to the roast – it does not indicate that the beans came from Italy), and so forth.

It is worth trying out different types of coffee, using the above points as a guide. You will be amazed at the range of flavors out there, and the more effort you take in trying the different flavors, the more of an expert you will become.